


Like Spring Leaves (You're Growing On Me)

by Lumeleo



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 17:38:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18015368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumeleo/pseuds/Lumeleo
Summary: Wings are supposed to reflect the love you receive. Akutsu's convinced they are bullshit.Taichi has the prettiest wings, though.





	Like Spring Leaves (You're Growing On Me)

**Author's Note:**

> AU where you have wings whose size and color depends on the people who love you.

Wings, Akutsu decided very early in his life, were bullshit.

His mother tried to teach him otherwise, spent her few spare moments grooming his wings and telling him fairytales about how wings were born of the love and care that he received. He always thought of her own wings, pale and mottled and barely strong enough to take her off the ground, and he thought of her teary eyes and pinched lips, and decided that if love was what made wings grow, he would just as well make do without.

He did grow wings, of course, because his mother was a sentimental little idiot like that. They were small and messy, the feathers a mixture of a pale rosy hue he attributed to his mother and a dusty grey that was all his own, but while they might not have been the biggest or prettiest they were as strong as the rest of him. He rarely bothered to fly, but he learned very quickly to use his wings to move faster and put more force behind his punches.

He blamed Kawamura for the few brown feathers that got mixed in some time after they got to knew each other, making his wings look even messier than before. There were no beautiful patterns or solid bands like other people had on their wings, nothing that would make him feel any better about his wings. Aside from helping him beat others either figuratively or literally, he had no use for the stupid chunks of flesh. They got in the way and itched when he didn’t waste time grooming them, and honestly he would have preferred not to have them at all. He might have tried to just cut them off, except the risk of bleeding to death wasn’t quite worth getting rid of the nuisance.

Best to just own the mess, if he couldn’t get rid of them. He rather liked the effect when he bleached his hair to be more or less the color of his wings.

Akutsu rarely paid attention to other people’s wings, except when they were particularly annoying. There were people who spent far too much time grooming their wings, thinking having pretty feathers somehow gave them more value, and people who obsessed over every last feather as though it actually mattered. As though love was an actual thing that could have an effect on their lives aside from making them weak and vulnerable. It didn’t matter, none of it did, and Akutsu just did not give a fuck.

Taichi had the most beautiful wings he had ever seen.

He didn’t notice that at first, barely noticed Taichi himself. He was just an annoying brat, after all, not worth a moment of Akutsu’s time. Except that changed at some point, and all of a sudden he couldn’t help but notice Taichi. And as it turned out, that meant he couldn’t help but notice Taichi’s wings.

Taichi was like a nervous hummingbird, his wings constantly fluttering as he flitted to and fro from one senpai to the next. The kid complained about his wings, of course, the way he was constantly putting down everything about himself. His wings weren’t strong or fast or even agile, Taichi would say if asked, and while he could fly up high like a little butterfly he didn’t have the stamina to make use of it during matches. That was apparently all Taichi could think of when he looked at his wings, completely missing the fact they were probably the prettiest pair of wings ever.

No doubt Taichi would have argued even if he pointed that out, would have whined about how small his wings were, not big and strong like the wings he thought were pretty. Akutsu knew that was all bullshit, though. Taichi’s wings might have been small, but they were well groomed and perfectly shaped for their size. Even their color was pretty, a vibrant green like spring leaves, and really he must have been going soft in the head to even thing of such things. Taichi had plenty of other colors mixed in, of course, the edges spotted with various colors from all the senpai who were so very fond of him, the arc of his spread wings striped with pearly pastels from his family. It was a wonder he could fit all that on his little wings, but Taichi was nothing if not excellent at being loved.

Akutsu would have thought Taichi would be busy enough looking after his own wings, with how shiny and perfectly groomed they always seemed to be. Apparently that wasn’t the case, as he was the first person besides Akutsu’s mother who actually dared to try grooming his wings. Akutsu should have swatted him away, should have told him to mind his own business, but he had a headache and Taichi wasn’t speaking quite so much when he was busying himself with Akutsu’s wings, so he supposed he could let it slide just this once. He had to sit down for Taichi to actually reach every part of his wings, but that didn’t seem to slow the brat down at all. He was actually humming to himself, the little idiot, no doubt smiling to himself as he worked his way through Akutsu’s wings.

It felt nice, much though he hated to admit it. He rarely paid attention to his wings beyond making sure they weren’t visibly dirty, didn’t waste time on straightening his feathers or picking out the loose ones. He didn’t fly enough for all that to matter, and any loose feathers would fall off sooner or later. Taichi apparently disagreed, though. His small hands were gentle but firm, combing through the rows of feathers and plucking out any weak or damaged ones. Akutsu could feel it when Taichi moved on to working the preening oil all over his wings, felt the slick, warm fingers massaging the skin underneath. He didn’t consciously spread his wings, yet they seemed to respond easily to Taichi’s touches, flexing and reaching out whenever Taichi needed to reach another spot.

Akutsu sighed when Taichi was done, feeling strangely relaxed. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, leaving him warm and loose and about to fall asleep. Taichi was speaking again now, saying something about how he should take better care of his wings really Akutsu-senpai desu, but Akutsu wasn’t listening. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to say no the next time Taichi wanted to groom him, either.

It somehow became a more or less regular thing, happening very nearly every time Taichi managed to corner him and neither of them were in a hurry to go somewhere. The others were itching to tease him, Akutsu knew that, but a glare and perhaps a threat was usually enough to make them quiet. Taichi was quiet too, humming under his breath as he worked, and Akutsu wondered if he liked doing this.

He almost changed his mind the first time he caught a glance at his wings in the mirror and noticed something strange. Not that his wings were shiny and healthy-looking, more so than he could remember ever seeing them; after all, they hadn’t enjoyed so much regular grooming since he’d been old enough to tell his mother to keep her hands to herself. No, what really caught his eye were the spots of green following the edge of his wings, a regular dotted line standing out from the messy smudge of his wings. There was no question of where the new color had come from. Not when the new feathers were the exact shade of green of Taichi’s wings.

That should have been the point where he drew a line, where he told Taichi to stay away. It would have been the right thing to do for once, keeping Taichi away from the mess that was his life. He just had to make it clear to Taichi that there was no place for his wide eyes and innocent smile in Akutsu’s life, had to keep him at a distance until the green in Akutsu’s wings faded back to the familiar dusty grey. He should have done that, but he wouldn’t. Wouldn’t, couldn’t, same difference. He wasn’t sure he knew how to scare Taichi away for good at this point, knew for a fact he couldn’t bring himself to go that far. Not when he closed his eyes and felt small hands working their way through his poor neglected wings, humming some silly little tune that Akutsu could never quite place.

Perhaps he was changing, but he supposed it was fine for once. Taichi was changing too, in much more visible ways. He was growing more confident, which was a good thing since the idiots had apparently decided to put him on the actual team and Taichi couldn’t get by just being awfully cute and friendly to everyone. His wings were still small and green like spring leaves, but he had learned to use his strengths to make up for his weaknesses, fluttered around the court like the nervous little bird he was and using his silly data to be exactly where he wasn’t supposed to be. He wasn’t putting himself down so much anymore, was standing up for himself when others doubted him, and while he might have sometimes echoed words he had heard from his senpai the voice was his own, his eyes shining with a new-found fire.

Akutsu never mentioned the new feathers dotting Taichi’s wings, the dusty grey ones that looked almost silver as part of Taichi’s shining wings. Nobody else would mention that either, not if they knew what was good for them.

At some point Taichi hit a growth spurt and grew, still rather short and scrawny but at least he wasn’t a tiny child anymore. Akutsu was mostly done growing but somehow that happened anyway, his wings stretching out longer and wider than before. He wasn’t terribly surprised that the new feathers were seemingly all a brilliant shade of green, the edges of his wings looking like he’d been rolling around in freshly cut grass. Taichi never said anything about it, not really, but he smiled brightly as he ran his fingertips along the new rows of feathers and that was basically the same thing.

Akutsu would have complained, but his wings were now large enough to surround Taichi completely as Akutsu drew him close, wings and wide eyes and brilliant smile and all, and he was coming to find he rather enjoyed that.


End file.
